The US Homeownership Rate Held at 65%, With Rental Vacancy at 7.3%
The U.S. Census Bureau reported that 65.0 percent of American households owned their homes in the second quarter of 2026. That's the same as a year earlier, and statistically indistinguishable from the quarter before it. Rental vacancy sat at 7.3 percent and homeowner vacancy at 1.2 percent, and neither moved either.
Every headline number in the release is flat. For a national statistic that's normal, and it's also why the national number is the least useful thing in the report.
What the release actually said
| # | Measure | Q2 2026 | Q1 2026 | Q2 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Homeownership rate | 65.0% | 65.3% | 65.0% |
| 2 | Rental vacancy rate | 7.3% | 7.3% | 7.0% |
| 3 | Homeowner vacancy rate | 1.2% | 1.1% | 1.1% |
The Bureau describes all three changes as not statistically different from the comparison quarters.
What the vacancy rates mean
Rental vacancy is the share of rental units sitting empty and available to rent. At 7.3 percent it's the looser of the two markets, though that figure includes units between tenants, so it never approaches zero even in a tight market.
Homeowner vacancy is the share of owner-occupied-type units empty and for sale. At 1.2 percent it's been near historic lows for years, and that's the number that matters for anyone trying to buy. Very few homes are sitting available, which is the supply side of the affordability problem.
The national rate hides a 50-point spread
Our own reading of American Community Survey data puts the share of owner-occupied homes nationally at 65.0 percent, which lands on exactly the same figure the quarterly survey reports from an entirely separate sample. Underneath it, states are nowhere near each other.
| Rank | Highest | Owner-occupied |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | West Virginia | 74.9% |
| 2 | Maine | 74.3% |
| 3 | Michigan | 73.2% |
| 4 | Vermont | 73.2% |
| 5 | Delaware | 73.0% |
| Rank | Lowest | Owner-occupied |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | District of Columbia | 41.5% |
| 2 | New York | 54.3% |
| 3 | California | 55.9% |
| 4 | Nevada | 60.0% |
| 5 | Massachusetts | 62.5% |
West Virginia is the most owner-occupied state at 74.9 percent, and it's also one of the poorest, which is the pattern people find counterintuitive. Homeownership tracks cheap housing more closely than it tracks high income. California at 55.9 percent has far higher incomes and far lower ownership.
In big cities it drops under a third
Go down to city level and the range gets wider still. Among cities above 250,000 people, Newark, New Jersey has the lowest owner-occupied share in the country at 24.4 percent, followed by Jersey City at 27.9 percent, Miami at 30.8 percent, and New York City at 32.8 percent. Boston and Los Angeles both sit around 36 percent.
In each of those places roughly two-thirds to three-quarters of households rent, which is why a flat national homeownership rate tells a Newark renter very little about their own market.
Reading this release next quarter
The Bureau publishes this one every quarter, and the phrase to watch for is "not statistically different." When it appears on every line, as it does here, the honest summary is that nothing measurable changed. The Bureau also publishes vacancy and ownership broken out by region, age of householder, and race, and those cuts move more than the national totals do.
For housing costs rather than tenure, see the most affordable cities to buy a home and the most rent-burdened cities ranking, or look up owner and renter shares for any place on its data page.
Sources
Quarterly figures are from the U.S. Census Bureau's Quarterly Residential Vacancies and Homeownership release for the second quarter of 2026, with detail in the press release and detailed tables. State and city owner-occupied shares are CensusEasy analysis of American Community Survey data, a different survey from the quarterly series, so the two are not directly comparable quarter to quarter.
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What is the current US homeownership rate?
The U.S. homeownership rate was 65.0 percent in the second quarter of 2026, according to the Census Bureau. That is the same as the second quarter of 2025 and not statistically different from the 65.3 percent recorded in the first quarter of 2026.
What do the rental and homeowner vacancy rates mean?
Rental vacancy, 7.3 percent, is the share of rental units sitting empty and available to rent, and it includes units between tenants so it never nears zero. Homeowner vacancy, 1.2 percent, is the share of owner-type units empty and for sale, and it has been near historic lows for years, which is the supply side of the affordability problem.
Which states have the highest and lowest homeownership?
By American Community Survey data, West Virginia has the highest owner-occupied share at 74.9 percent, followed by Maine (74.3 percent) and Michigan (73.2 percent). The District of Columbia is lowest at 41.5 percent, followed by New York (54.3 percent) and California (55.9 percent). Homeownership tracks cheap housing more closely than high income.
